Winter Garden West Orange defensive end Brandon Wilson is just getting started with the process of being recruited.

As the 6-foot-4, 236-pound junior goes through the postseason, he’s going to start picking up plenty of attention, and the farther the Warriors advance, the more exposure Wilson will get. West Orange (9-1), however, has a tough first round opponent in the Florida Class 8A state playoffs, which begin Friday at Winter Park (8-2).

Wilson, who is ranked No. 24 in the Sentinel's 2015 Central Florida Super60, got some firsthand exposure to a college football atmosphere Saturday night as a recruiting guest of UCF for the Knights’ thrilling 19-14 victory over Houston. It was his second college football game this season.

“It was a real good game. I stayed clear to the end,” said Wilson, who visited UCF will fellow junior and teammate Bryceden Jones, a linebacker. “They have a lot of fan support. I like UCF and usually people say how it’s really close to home and that they wouldn’t want to go there, but that’s not the case for me, since I’m from North Carolina.

“I could go there and it would be different for me.”

Wilson moved to the Orlando in August of last year and he’s emerged as a key figure on the West Orange defense.

He’s had a breakout junior year and has been a key part of a defense that has allowed just 13.7 points per game, including three shutouts. West Orange has only allowed more than 24 points once, and that was the lone loss of the season at Apopka 52-35.

He’s had limited college contact so far, but he has heard from Penn State and USF, as well as UCF.

He plans to take a visit to Penn State in the spring and his main contact with the Nittany Lions has been Stan Hixon, assistant head coach/wide receivers and Florida regional recruiter.

“I’m real happy about it. I’d be the first in my family to go to a big Davison 1 school, so that’s something to really look forward to,” said Wilson. “Since I’m from North Carolina, I would like to see North Carolina offer me … but just any school that comes, I’m really looking forward to whatever comes my way.”

He’s seen a little different importance placed on high school football in Florida than what he was used to. One of the main reasons his family moved to Florida, along with his father taking a new job, was because of the benefits of having spring football and getting more exposure to college recruiters.

“It was my dad’s job but he also thought it would be a better opportunity for me, as far as football,” Wilson said. “In North Carolina, it’s all basketball up there. Down here, y’all take football really serious.”

He said there was a quick indication at West Orange that football was a significant part of the culture.

“Yeah, considering that we have a football class in seventh period,” Wilson laughed.

Las t season, Wilson logged time behind Corey Vereen, a defensive end now playing linebacker as a freshman at Tennessee.

“Yeah, he taught me a lot of stuff … a lot of little things,” Wilson said of Vereen. “I feel like I played well. I feel like I could have had a better season, but I’ve done pretty well. I’ve just gotta keep it going throughout the playoffs.”

He’s not exactly sure what the recruiting future holds, but he’s anxious to find out. He at least knows Penn State is very interested.

“Right after the Apopka game, Penn State called coach [Bob] Head and they asked to speak to me,” Wilson said. “They’ve been contacting me ever since, and coach Wells [Offensive coordinator Walt Wells] from USF, he shows me a lot of attention and they invited me to a game when they played Miami, so I got to watch that game.

“I’ve really been expecting Penn State to offer me. I think it might come in the spring, when they want me to come visit.”

The Apopka game, although it was West Orange’s lone loss of the season, had some bright spots for Wilson, who went up against the Darters’ 6-foot-6, 280-pound offensive lineman Martez Ivey, who is ranked as the No. 2 tackle in the country by 247sports.

Ivey was also at Saturday’s UCF game and the two were able to chat.

“Me and Martez were talking and he told me, ‘The attention should pick up when y’all get to the playoffs,’ … he gave me my props after the Apopka game and [Saturday] night too,” Wilson said. “It was the game plan for me against Apopka, that whatever side he went to I went to also. I feel like I did pretty good. I could have done better, but there’s always something I can do better.

“But [Ivey] said I was really the first one who gave him any competition the whole season.”

Those are the kind of props Wilson will be looking for from college coaches as he moves toward his senior year. He’s got his foot in the door, now he just needs the colleges to invite him in with a few scholarship offers.